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Race Report: Raglan Rox 4 Hour
Rider: Paul Whibley/ Rory Mead
Team: Sargent MC/ Yamaha NZ
Bike: Yamaha YZ450 F
Result: 1st
The annual Raglan Rox 4 Hour XC was held at a new venue near Operau. I had teamed up for this event with fellow Yamaha rider Rory Mead.
Lining up on the start with spectacular views out over the Kawhia harbour and coastline could have been distracting some of the riders as I managed to pull a solid holeshot from a not so favourable position on the line.
I worked hard on the first lap and opened up about a minute lead over the chasing team of Jayden Grey and Ben Townley. Over the next couple of laps I maintained that lead without taking any risks on the fun and fast track.
Ben Townley took over from Jayden and set a fast pace as he worked hard to eat into our lead. Rain began to fall as I handed the bike over to Rory for his turn at the fuel stop.
Unfortunately Rory had a crash on the increasingly slippery track allowing Ben to make up a lot of time and take the lead. Ben and Jayden worked well together and put some time on Rory and myself.
The track had become extremely slippery with the now persistant rain and several of the hills were giving riders some grief.
I jumped back on after Rorys session and was surprised by how much the conditions had changed, getting caught out on a slick corner and going down. I worked hard at putting in mistake free laps after that and began to close in on the lead.
We were running out of laps but on the last lap I caught and past Jayden. Over the last lap I managed to pull a small lead.
The track was now littered with bikes especially on several of the slick hills that climbed up through the bush section. I managed to weave my way up the toughest hill safely, threading my way through the cooked and stuck bikes. Arriving at the finish in first and sharing the win with my team mate Rory.
Big thanks to Carol and Gordy Brooker for all their help.
1st: Paul Whibley/ Rory Mead
2nd: Jayden Grey/ Ben Townley
3rd: Scott Birch/ Cullum Birch
Paul Whibley is supported in NZ by: AmPro Yamaha, Monster Energy, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, G2, CTi, Moto SR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC,Spectro, Acerbis, DID, JT sprokets, GHQ, Pirelli, Sargent Motorcycles, Yamaha NZ, Rosscos start Up Services
The AmPro Yamaha Team is supported by: FMF Kenda Yamalube Asterisk Cannondale CV4 Cycle Gear E-Batt EBC Brakes Factory Connection Fastway Gaerne GYTR IMS Jonny Signs Leatt Brace Matrix Racing Products Motion Pro MSR Pro-Clean Rekluse Scott Shoei Slavens TM Designworks Twin Air Wiseco ZipTy Racing
